ASTHO webinar: Decision Analysis Tool for Syndromic Surveillance in Public Health

Decision Analysis Tool for Syndromic Surveillance in Public Health

Date: Monday June 2, 2014

Time: 2-3pm Eastern Time

Description:

This webinar will present a decision support tool for jurisdictions to evaluate the Value of Information (VOI) and Return on Investment (ROI) for Syndromic Surveillance system implementation.  One of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials’ (ASTHO) key goals is to help its jurisdictions meet member needs for technical assistance, which includes making informed decisions about their syndromic surveillance options. During this webinar, Booz Allen Hamilton will present a quantifiable decision-analysis tool built for this purpose. The presentation will elaborate on the developed model and possible user inputs that allow for detailed customization for various event scenarios (using influenza as a scenario).

Register here.

Fridays from the Archives: Bicycle-related Injury Surveillance

Thursday, March 20, 2014: Bicycle-related Injury Surveillance

Admittedly, it's not quite Friday yet, but it's never too early for Fridays from the Archives.

Today is the official start of spring. For some of you lucky folks that means flowers are blooming and it's warm enough for short sleeves. For those of us in New England, spring is more like the final gasp of winter. But we know that, soon enough, we will be able to shed our heavy coats and venture outdoors.

In Boston spring comes with an ever-growing flood of bicyclists. In just two years (between 2007 and 2009) there was a 122% increase in bicycle commuter ridership. As a result, beginning in 2007, Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) started to quantify the bike injury burden and characterize bicycle-related injury (BRI) visits in Boston, based on emergency department (ED) visit data.

Marcus Rennick, MPH and Aileen Shen, MPH, described the process involved in developing and utilizing this novel BRI syndrome definition in an April 2012 ISDS webinar. A combination of chief complaints and ICD-9 CM codes were utilized to characterize ED visits as BRI. The BRI syndrome differs greatly from more commonly used syndromes (GI, ILI, etc.) and represents the malleability and flexibility of syndromic surveillance methodology in public health practice.

As a result of this project BPHC was able to identify both neighborhoods and age groups at greatest risk. This information is used to target bike lane development and educational activities, such as promoting helmet use when riding a bike.

For more information on Rapid Surveillance and Data Integration: A Syndromic Description of Bicycle-Related Injury in Boston please visit the ISDS website.



This post is part of the series Fridays from the Archives. You can access all posts in the series here.

Written by Becky Zwickl, MPH, ISDS Public Health Analyst (bzwickl@syndromic.org). 

Fridays from the Archives: Meaningful Use & Ambulatory Data

Friday, February 7, 2014: Meaningful Use & Ambulatory Data

It's the first Friday of the month, which means the Meaningful Use Community Call is this afternoon (more info here). These calls act as a platform for public health practitioners to discuss their status with implementing the syndromic surveillance objective of Meaningful Use, often looking towards future Meaningful Use stages. We've had many discussions surrounding what to do with Eligible Professionals, or EPs, who are interested in submitting data. Currently, many jurisdictions are putting these EPs in queues until they have the capacity to process their data. 

But why is receiving ambulatory data an issue at all? What makes ambulatory data unique from existing Emergency Department (ED) data?

One of the largest challenges in incorporating ambulatory data is sheer volume. Corey Spears and Michelle Siefert plainly lay out this dilemma in Discovering the New Frontier of Syndromic Surveillance: A Meaningful Use Dialogue on Inpatient and Ambulatory EHR Technology. At an ED visit the patient, at least ostensibly, is encountering some type of emergency to prompt the visit. In ambulatory settings, routine visits are common. Additionally, there are a wide variety of ambulatory care providers. Do public health departments want data from internists? Almost certainly. But do they also want data from dermatologists? That's a bit less certain.

This webinar is particularly interesting because it presents the information from the perspective of EHR vendors, an important stakeholder group that has substantial investment in Meaningful Use processes.

Interested in learning more? Join our Meaningful Use Community calls and view the webinar recording on the ISDS website.

This post is part of the series Fridays from the Archives. You can access all posts in the series here.

Written by Becky Zwickl, MPH, ISDS Public Health Analyst (bzwickl@syndromic.org). 

Fridays from the Archives: Schools & Flu

Friday, January 24, 2014: Schools & Flu

Schools are often, for lack of a better descriptor, prime places for infectious disease transmission. But how do common infectious diseases, like seasonal influenza, move through a school? Are there specific patterns that could be accounted for to mitigate transmission?

It turns out that certain factors, such as social networks, may affect not only epidemic impact but also intervention effectiveness.  Through extensive modeling Gail Potter, PhD explores these social contact factors in School Disease Transmission: Has the time come for coordination between monitors and modelers? 

Of course, the other half of the title indicates needed coordination between modelers like Gail and monitors like Guoyan Zhang, MD, MPH and Anthony Llau, MPH, PhDc  who monitored ILI for Miami-Dade County in Florida. Daily school absenteeism surveillance used in coordination with evolving models of transmission could improve analysis of the absenteeism data. This is especially important since, as the presenters mention, absenteeism may not always equal true illness (or illness at all).

To learn more about flu and school absenteeism surveillance, and the modeling that can aid in analysis and intervention decisions, be sure to watch the full webinar from October 18, 2011 on our website.


This post is part of the series Fridays from the Archives. You can access all posts in the series here.


Written by Becky Zwickl, MPH, ISDS Public Health Analyst (bzwickl@syndromic.org)

Have comments on PHIN Guide? Submit them through our new feedback form!

In the months since ISDS and CDC published the expanded PHIN Messaging Guide for Syndromic Surveillance, Release 1.9 (Guide) in April 2013 we’ve received several comments and questions as well as suggestions for future versions.

To streamline the process for gathering comments we’ve created a google form through which you can submit feedback. We’ll also keep track of who submits comments and invite you to participate in conversations on future Guide revisions.

You can also now access a list of feedback ISDS has already received on the Guide. This spreadsheet will be updated periodically (and anonymously) as feedback is submitted. ISDS and CDC responses and status updates are also included for your information.

For additional details on this project see the PHIN Messaging Guide Project Webpage.

For any questions on the PHIN Messaging Guide for Syndromic Surveillance, Release 1.9, please contact Becky Zwickl at bzwickl@syndromic.org.

BioSense User Community: Overview and Transition

ISDS has been hosting a series of BioSense 2.0 User Community Calls throughout 2012 and 2013, the most recent of which was held on July 16. These calls provide an opportunity to discuss BioSense 2.0, ask questions, and hear responses from RTI, BioSense Governance, CDC and ASTHO. ISDS is now transitioning into a monthly BioSense User Group Meeting, the first of which will be held on Tuesday, August 20, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT (registration is now open).

The User Group Meetings will follow a similar format to prior Community Calls. At the July 16th call we received responses to technical questions (submitted during meeting registration) that covered topics ranging from accessing BioSense to best practices for on-boarding. Mike Alletto at RTI led us through the questions and responses with additional input from Yvonne Konnor (BioSense Governance Representative), Alan Davis (CDC), and Scott Gordon and Lindsay Strack from ASTHO.

Yvonne also provided us with an update from BioSense Governance, including emphasizing a continuing focus on two-way communication between users, developers, and CDC to increase sustainability and transparency.

One of our interesting open discussion questions focused on using syndromic surveillance to look at information from a specific event such as a marathon, wildfire, or sporting event. We heard some good feedback from participants in Ohio, Florida, and Rhode Island with useful tips including creating a new, unique acronym to use specifically for monitoring the intended event. Other users noted that the increasing use of dropdown menus in EHRs may negatively affect the ability to create unique acronyms since there is no space for a free text chief complaint.

If you are part of the BioSense 2.0 community and are interested in asking questions, discussing your experiences, and hearing from others, we hope you’ll join us in August!

Future 2013 Meeting Dates: August 20th, September 17th, October 15th, November 19th, December 17th

Written by: Becky Zwickl, MPH, ISDS Public Health Analyst

Job Post - Director of Syndromic Surveillance Unit, NYC DOHMH

Director of Syndromic Surveillance Unit, Bureau of Communicable Disease

NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

The Bureau of Communicable Disease tracks over 73 infectious diseases and investigates disease outbreaks in New York City.   The bureau is looking for a highly qualified epidemiologist to direct the Syndromic Surveillance Unit responsible for the processing and analysis of surveillance data.   

• Supervise City Research Scientists who conduct daily operations of the Bureau’s syndromic systems.

• Maintain, refine and implement the Bureau’s syndromic systems to: detect and respond to statistical signals, provide situation awareness and advance the use of data for non-infectious disease surveillance.

• Administer current grants to enhance systems and disseminate data.

• Seek new grant funded opportunities and assist with co-writing proposals.

• Collaborate with other local, state and federal agencies and academic experts on outbreak detection methods and infectious disease modeling.

• Respond to internal and external requests for technical
 assistance on the use of syndromic data systems.

• Serve in an emergency response role, with a focus on data management and analytic needs for the Department in the event of any public health disaster.

• Review abstracts and manuscripts.

• Mentor staff and students

Preferred Skills

Knowledge and experience with communicable disease epidemiology, outbreak investigations, advanced statistical and epidemiologic methods to detect disease aberrations; public health informatics with ability to interact and provide input on issues related to information systems and software application development; significant administrative and supervisory experience, including grant writing, project management and supervising technical staff; ability to coordinate interdisciplinary workgroups and the ability to implement, interpret and assess agency and programmatic objectives and plans. Excellent writing and speaking ability, strong interpersonal communication skills and time management and organizational skills.

How to Apply

Apply online with a cover letter to https://a127-jobs.nyc.gov/.  In the Job ID search bar, enter: job ID number # 116345. 

The City of New York/DOHMH is an equal opportunity employer.

NYC DOHMH Job Posting: Syndromic Surveillance Informatics Manager

Job Title: Syndromic Surveillance Informatics Manager

Civil Service Title: Computer Systems Manager

Proposed Salary Range: $49,492.00 - $81,903.00 (Annual)

Work Location: 42-09 28th Street, Long Island City, NY

Division/Work Unit: IT Solutions and Delivery

Job Description: The Informatics Unit is an innovative operational unit within the Bureau of Informatics and Development responsible for implementation activities and strategic planning of large scale city-wide critical systems and infrastructure including NYC Syndromic Surveillance Reporting. The Unit liaises and coordinates with NYC hospital electronic medical records IT staff to implement upgrades and enhancements for data quality and timeliness of syndromic reporting. In addition, NYC DOHMH is taking on a new initiative to integrate with CDC’s BioSense system in order to track syndromic data and response activities across jurisdictions. The Syndromic Surveillance Informatics Manager, under the direction of the Director of Informatics and Data Services, with great latitude for independent thinking, will be responsible for implementing and overseeing the following activities: 

• Act as the main IT point of contact with NYC area hospitals regarding transmission of syndromic surveillance data and meeting Meaningful Use requirements.

• Work with NYC Hospital EDs to implement syndromic reporting for those that are currently not reporting.

• Liaise with NYC-area hospitals to implement electronic reporting of syndromic surveillance emergency department data from non-standard methods to standard HL7 formats consistent with Meaningful Use.

• Coordinate transition of data transmission of ED data to HL7 standards that are consistent with Meaningful Use requirements, including work with BCD Syndromic staff to test new HL7 file data quality and timeliness, as compared to existing methods.

• Possess strong analytic skills along with the technical skills needed to work with large data systems and strong working knowledge of SAS (SAS eBI 9.2,  Proc SQL, Macros) and SQL (Database server Application), is required. Ability to program in capacity in SSRS or ability to learn SSRS is a plus.

• Extensive knowledge working with HL7 messages and HL7 parsing tools as well as XML messages and XML framework.

• Identify data quality issues independently or in coordination with BCD Syndromic Surveillance unit.

• Identify, troubleshoot and resolve issues with interruptions in reporting from NYC hospitals to DOHMH.

• Escalate reporting issues to Informatics and BCD Syndromic Surveillance unit.

• Work with NYC hospitals to improve data quality and timeliness of syndromic ED reports.

• In coordination with DIIT technical staff and BCD Syndromic data analysts, design a central database for syndromic ED data.

• Investigate methods to electronically submit data to BioSense.

• In coordination with DIIT application developers and BioSense technical team, design a method to report NYC Syndromic ED data to BioSense.

• Ability to utilize Geographic Information Systems tools (GIS) such as ESRI and ArcGIS Server to assist surveillance programs to map ELR data.

• Examine other electronic data sources linked to syndromic surveillance and identify methods to improve data quality.

• Use knowledge of syndromic surveillance to collaborate with colleagues on various data matching and surveillance projects.

• Escalate reporting issues to Director of Informatics and DOHMH surveillance programs as necessary.

• In addition, the Syndromic Surveillance Informatics Manager will prepare presentations, manuscripts, and reports describing initiatives, systems, methodologies and results as well as participate and represent DOHMH in conferences, meetings and seminars.

For complete information regarding Minimum Qualification Requirements and Preferred Skills, visit the full Job Posting on the NYC Gov Careers Site.

To Apply: 

Apply online with a cover letter to https://a127-jobs.nyc.gov/.  In the Job ID search bar, enter: job ID number #113535.

Posting Date: 11/26/2012
Post Until: Until Filled

Job Opening: Syndromic Surveillance Epi - IN State Department of Health

Job Title:   Syndromic Surveillance Epidemiologist

Job ID:   581393

Apply Before:   10/05/2012

Location:   Indianapolis, IN

Full/Part Time:   Full-Time

Regular/Temporary: Regular

Job Description:

This position conducts continual, timely syndromic surveillance for potential public health emergencies. This position maintains the statewide plan for the ISDH syndromic surveillance system; establishes key relationships with external agencies and local public health departments. This position also serves as the division coordinator for the Indiana National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (I-NEDSS) and coordinator for Early Warning Infectious Disease Surveillance (EWIDS). This position also supervises the Quality Assurance Epidemiologist and future Biostatistician (E7) positions and serves as a tertiary division director to assume divisional supervisory responsibilities in the absence of the division director and field epi director.

Preferred Experience:

Five (5) years of experience in epidemiology or public health; plus a Bachelor's degree in a Biological Science, Chemistry, an Environmental or Health Science, Mathematics, Nursing, Pharmacology, Public Health, a Social Science, Statistics, Toxicology, or a closely related area from an accredited college. A combination of experience and accredited graduate/doctoral education in Epidemiology and/or the areas listed may be considered.

If interested, you are encouraged to go to the job posting to learn more about this position and how to submit your application online. You may find the job posting here: http://www.in.gov/spd/2334.htm

Contact information for this job posting is below:

Thomas Duszynski, MPH

Director of Surveillance and Investigation

Epidemiology Resource Center

Indiana State Department of Health

Office 1-317-233-7009

tduszyns@isdh.in.gov

Syndromic Surveillance Reference Implementation Release 3 Now Available

The Community for Population and Public Health Measures (COPHM) is pleased to announce the third release of its Syndromic Surveillance Reference Implementation application. Using the Syndromic Surveillance Reference Implementation will allow organizations to quickly and easily setup a secured Biosurveillance system that utilizes the latest NwHIN specifications. The tool has been designed to enable secure communications between two organizations, or between an organization and the BioSense 2.0 system.

Fully compliant with the latest version of the PHIN Messaging guide for Syndromic Surveillance, the tool is open source and free to download and customize. Release 3.0 adds support for the NwHIN Direct messaging platform to the available transport mechanisms.

Visit the COPHM release page at http://www.cophm.org/content/release-30 for more information.

Last Day to Comment: ISDS MU Guidelines

Today, Tuesday July 3rd, is the final day to provide comments on the ISDS Revised Guidelines for Syndromic Surveillance Using Inpatient and Ambulatory Clinical Care EHR Data. This is your last opportunity to provide input that will inform ISDS's Meaningful Use recommendations that will be made to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).


View the Revised Guidelines: http://www.syndromic.org/uploads/files/RevisedGuidelinesforSS.pdf
View the Guidelines FAQ: http://www.syndromic.org/uploads/files/GuidelinesFAQ.pdf 


You can also view the presentation below for a summary of the key parts of the Guidelines to help inform your comments. 

Revised Guidelines for Syndromic Surveillance Using Inpatient and Ambulatory Clinical Care EHR Data on Prezi

Ways to Comment
1. On-line Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ISDSRevisedGuidelines2012
2. Email your comments to Becky Zwickl, MPH, ISDS Public Health Analyst at bzwickl@syndromic.org.

Explore ISDS' Revised Guidelines!

Take a tour through ISDS' Revised Guidelines for Syndromic Surveillance Using Inpatient and Ambulatory Clinical Care EHR Data using the newly released presentation found below. Navigate through the various elements of the Revised Guidelines at your own pace to become better acquainted with the document before you provide feedback. This presentation provides a straight-forward overview of the Guidelines that will prepare you to review the full text of the Revised Guidelines and provide informed comments. The purpose of this presentation is to facilitate your understanding and encourage you to provide feedback during the final comment period. Remember, this is your last opportunity to directly shape the recommended guidelines to the ONC. Your input will either support the changes that were made in the Revised Guidelines or emphasize places where further edits are needed.

Comment Period Deadline: July 3, 2012

View the Revised Guidelines

Submit Feedback

Learn more

Revised Guidelines for Syndromic Surveillance Using Inpatient and Ambulatory Clinical Care EHR Data on Prezi

Highlighting the 2012 Pre-Conference Workshops

Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina
December 3, 2012

1380 Harbor Island Drive | San Diego, California 92101

Don’t miss the 2012 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshops! The workshops include options for professionals with varying levels of experience – from students to seasoned practitioners. ISDS invites professionals from around the world to develop core disease surveillance skills and collaborate with their peers.

ISDS Pre-Conference Tracks will be lead by respected leaders in the field, including Dr. Howard Burkom, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (Data Analysis Methods 101); Mr. James Daniel, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (Meaningful Use Overview); Dr. Scott McNabb, Emory School of Public Health (Track 3 Sessions), among others.

Concurrent Pre-Conference Tracks

Track 1: Syndromic Surveillance, Informatics, Data Analysis, and Anomaly Investigation: The 101 Series. This workshop will provide an overview of key topics to introduce professionals to core public health and surveillance competencies. The track will include an overview of syndromic surveillance, public health informatics, data analysis methods, anomaly detection, investigation techniques, and data visualization methods using “R” statistical software. The objective of this track is to “bridge the knowledge gap” in order to better understand and apply public health data for informed and meaningful decision-making.

Track 2: Public Health and Meaningful Use: Closing the Surveillance Loop. This workshop is designed to facilitate discussions around Meaningful Use and the need for closing the surveillance loop between healthcare providers and public health practitioners in order to increase the effectiveness and capacity of disease surveillance. The track will include an overview of Meaningful Use and Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), including best practices, lessons learned, and next steps. Interactive break-out sessions will focus on the healthcare provider onboarding process, data transport mechanisms, data quality issues, analytics, attestation, and other group-specified topics. The break-out groups will have an opportunity to summarize and report their findings to the larger group. The workshop will conclude with a panel discussion, integrating the perspectives of public health practitioners and healthcare providers on the “meaning” of meaningful use data.

Track 3: Assessment tools to meet the core capacities of the International Health Regulations (IHRs). This hands-on workshop will introduce participants to concepts and tools to assess the gaps and current performance of public health practice needed to meet the core requirements for both biosafety and biosurveillance under the International Health Regulations (IHR). Attendees will learn about IHR requirements and assessment concepts, plus use hands-on tools to measure country-specific opportunities and challenges in implementing public health interventions that fill gaps and improve performance. They will discuss specific approaches to measurement of impediments to IHR target compliance by correlating their assessment findings into recommendations for public health stakeholders.

Swap Meet

All tracks will also feature access to the Swap Meet session. The Swap Meet is an exciting opportunity to walk around to tables and informally discuss topics or systems with system developers, system users, and experts.

Reserve your space and register now: http://www.syndromic.org/annual-conference/2012/registration.

*Please note that Continuing Medical Education credits (CME) will not be offered for 2012 Pre-Conference Workshop attendance.

Comment Period Open for Input on ISDS' Revised Guidelines for Meaningful Use

ISDS is pleased to present the Revised Guidelines for Syndromic Surveillance Using Inpatient and Ambulatory Clinical Care EHR Data and requests your feedback on these Revised Guidelines during the final 30-day public comment period.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the Draft Guidelines. Over the last month, the Meaningful Use Workgroup revised the Guidelines to better align with stakeholder needs, perspectives, and expectations based on stakeholder comments. You can view a summary of the major changes in the Revised Guidelines document or in the Guidelines FAQ. 

ISDS requests your feedback in the coming month during the final, and most important, comment period prior to ISDS' release of recommendations for Meaningful Use. This is your last opportunity to directly shape the recommended guidelines to the ONC, as your input will either support the changes that were made int he Revised Guidelines or emphasize places where further edits are needed.

The comment period will be open from June 5, 2012 - July 3, 2012. 

View the Revised Guidelines

View the Guidelines FAQ

How to provide comments: 

1. On-line survey found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ISDSRevisedGuidelines2012 

2. E-mail ISDS Public Health Analyst, Becky Zwickl, MPH at bzwickl@syndromic.org

3. Join an open teleconference call to discuss your comments with your colleagues and MU Workgroup members on Monday, June 18th at 1:00 PM EDT. More information. 

4. Schedule a call with Becky Zwickl to provide feedback by contacting her at bzwickl@syndromic.org

You may learn more about the development of the Guidelines for Syndromic Surveillance Using Inpatient and Ambulatory Clinical Care EHR Data and the MU Workgroup members on the ISDS website here: http://www.syndromic.org/meaningfuluse/IAData.

If you have any questions, please contact ISDS Associate Director of Public Health Programs, Charlie Ishikawa, MSPH at meaningfuluse@syndromic.org.

Grant Opportunity: BioSense 2.0 Situation Awareness and Syndromic Surveillance

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a funding opportunity entitled "BioSense 2.0: Building State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Surveillance Capacity to Enhance Regional and National All-Hazards Public Health Situation Awareness" on May 11, 2012. Eligible applicants include state governments, city or township governments, special district governments, Native American tribal governments, and Native American tribal organizations.

The purpose of this program is to assist state, local, tribal and territorial health authorities to implement public health situation awareness and syndromic surveillance utilizing BioSense 2.0. Some specific goals include promoting timely exchange of health-related information between providers and public health authorities; facilitating timely information sharing among state, local, tribal, and territorial levels; and promoting improvement of the science, analytic and workforce practice for public health surveillance at the state, local, tribal, and territorial levels.

Through this grant, the CDC will award $100,000 - $300,000 up to 25 recipients. The anticipated award date is August 1, 2012.

The application deadline for this grant opportunity is June 26, 2012 5:00 PM U.S. Eastern Standard Time.

For more information about this funding opportunity and for the full announcements and application, visit http://www.grants.gov/search/synopsis.do;jsessionid=XpfBPyyNs1h8jnrQK4y9LGlyVRv1WnyY6KtLTNyySb8H57S3zfxP!884034953.